The Effects of Media on Everyday Life

Part I:

Hello to everyone reading this blog post. my name is Max Metters. This weekend, I have used a media consumption chart to keep track of the media that I consume in order to analyze how ingrained in society it is. Over the weekend, I read for a total of about six hours, watched about two hours of television, and spent about seven hours online or on social media outside of working on homework. I feel like this shows that media plays a huge role in our lives, even if we don't necessarily notice it, and while I don't feel like media significantly affects my decisions, the level of exposure that the majority of people in the US receive greatly increase the odds of it doing so for them.

Having grown up with technology, I feel as if I have grown used to its presence and am able to be more responsible in using it than people who are not used to it. Although I use social media as a means of communication, I do not feel that it has a significant effect on my life. I normally spend more time on the internet than any type of social media, due to homework.

Part II:

In English class, we watched three different advertisements in order to understand how the media is able to target specific audiences in order to sell products. In these ads, motion and action shots are heavily utilized, as well as fast imagery and lights. This inspires excitement and emotion in the audience, and keeps their focus. These ads also use music in the background, which generally builds or shifts over time to convey intensity or a change in mood. While watching these ads, I could tell that they were designed to retain the attention of audiences, while appealing to their emotions, with their imagery or dialogue. I feel like these ads were effective at conveying their messages when they came out due to their intensity and somewhat relatable narration and images.